By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter 

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A 19-year-old lifeguard was fatally shot in Fox Hill on Thursday while on his way to buy orange juice, after falling ill from suspected food poisoning.

Dennis Lightbourne had been weakened by dehydration and had not eaten since the day before, according to his sister, Domrihanna Anderson. 

Police said Mr Lightbourne was gunned down when assailants in a white Japanese-model vehicle opened fire. The shooters fled the scene.                       

He was the only person injured in the attack. Relatives rushed him to hospital in a private vehicle, but he was later pronounced dead.

Ms Anderson said her brother fell sick on Wednesday after eating a ham sandwich at work. On the day of his death, he told their mother that the food she offered him “tasted bad”. He also complained of itching and burning, prompting his sister to rub alcohol on his back.

“After six, he said ‘Sister, I going to buy this orange juice because I feel bad, I dehydrated, and I ain’t eat all day. So I coming back’,” she recalled.

Moments later, she heard gunshots. “That’s my first time hearing gunshots in my life,” she said.

Their mother, who was at work, tried to reach him when someone arrived at their home with devastating news.

“The loss is devastating,” Ms Anderson said. “I feel like I lose everything. I loved my brother. My brother was like my whole heart. My brother was like, my everything to me. I would be mad. He would come in and be like, ‘Why are you mad girl? don’t ever let no one make you mad. Try and get up and laugh’.”

Mr Lightbourne, originally from Acklins, graduated in 2023 from A Loftus Roker High School. He moved to New Providence after graduation, later relocating to Turks and Caicos where most of his family lived, before returning to New Providence in March.

His sister said he had no history of legal troubles.

She said he had recently bought a car and wanted to fix it. He also hoped to move into his own apartment and was planning a trip to Jamaica for his birthday in January.